Do medical students watch video clips in eLearning and do these facilitate learning?

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is controversial evidence of the impact of individual learning style on students' performance in computer-aided learning. AIMS: We assessed the association between the use of multimedia materials, such as video clips, and collaborative communication tools with learning outcome among medical students. METHOD: One hundred and twenty-one third-year medical students attended a course in medical informatics (0.7 credits) consisting of lectures, small group sessions and eLearning material. The eLearning material contained six learning modules with integrated video clips and collaborative learning tools in WebCT. Learning outcome was measured with a course exam. RESULTS: Approximately two-thirds of students (68.6%) viewed two or more videos. Female students were significantly more active video-watchers. No significant associations were found between video-watching and self-test scores or the time used in eLearning. Video-watchers were more active in WebCT; they loaded more pages and more actively participated in discussion forums. Video-watching was associated with a better course grade. CONCLUSIONS: Students who watched video clips were more active in using collaborative eLearning tools and achieved higher course grades.

Author information

Author/s: Romanov, Kalle (K); Nevgi, Anne (A);

Affiliation: Research & Development Unit for Medical Education, University of Helsinki, Finland. kalle.romanov(-atsign-)helsinki.fi

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Medical teacher (Med Teach), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jun; vol 29 (issue 5) : pp 484-8

Dates: Created 2007/09/21; Completed 2008/03/13;

PMID: 17885978, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.